Remember the homeless man who was living off his frequent flyer miles?
He finally found a job.
Jim Kennedy, a 46-year-old California man, weathered the recession by using his one-million-mile-plus stockpile of hotel and airline points to keep a roof over his head.
Since being kicked out of his foreclosed home on Jan. 17, the former corporate development manager has relied on all those miles accumulated during years on the road to find a place to stay — a Holiday Inn Express here, a Hampton Inn there and a Motel 6 in between.
But that is about to end. On Monday, Kennedy started work as the new CEO of Netword, an Internet advertising company that tries to pair search results with local advertisers.
Perhaps upgrd.com could use Mr. Kennedy as well?
Kennedy was featured two months ago on "Good Morning America" and other media outlets. He said that the managers of a venture capital firm that is funding Netword saw one of those reports and brought him in for an interview.
That always helps…
"I was probably down to three or four weeks" of free nights, Kennedy said.
And that was only after Wyndham Hotels gave him some extra points after hearing about his plight.
Kennedy still is living in a hotel — paying for his room in cash and points — while he searches for a more-permanent place to live.
Hmm. I didn’t know Wyndham was in the charity business. Good to know.
Otherwise, he was living off all those loyalty points: about 85,000 with Starwood Preferred Guest, 400,000 with Hilton Honors, 100,000 Delta Sky Miles, 120,000 American AAdvantage, 200,000 United Mileage Plus and 125,000 American Express Membership Rewards points.
Eh, he’s just a greenhorn.
—
Well done Mr. Kennedy! Congrats on the new job.
Leave a Reply